The Valley is a sports stadium in Charlton, London, England with a capacity of 27,111, which has been the home of Charlton Athletic Football Club since 1919, with a period of exile between 1923–24, and from 1985–1992.

The stadium is served by Charlton railway station, which is less than a five-minute walk away from the stadium. An alternative is to use the Jubilee line, exiting at North Greenwich, and changing for route 161, 472 and 486 buses, which stop outside the stadium.

In Charlton's early years, the club had a nomadic existence, using several different grounds between its formation in 1905 and the beginning of World War I in 1914. The Valley dates from 1919, at a time when Charlton were moderately successful and looking for a new home. Fred Barned, the club’s honorary chairman, found an abandoned sand and chalk pit in Charlton, but did not have sufficient funds to fully develop the site. An army of volunteer Charlton supporters dug out a flat area for the pitch at the bottom of the chalk pit and used the excavated material to build up makeshift stands. The ground's name most likely comes from its original valley-like appearance.

The club played its first game at the ground before any seats, or even terraces, were installed. There was simply a roped-off pitch with the crowd standing or sitting on the adjoining earthworks. The unique circumstances of the ground's initial construction by its supporters began an unusually intense bond between the club's supporters and the site that still exists.

In the 1923–24 season, Charlton played at The Mount stadium in Catford but in a much more highly populated area. A proposed merger with Catford South End FC fell through and so Charlton moved back to The Valley.

In 1967, Len Silver the promoter at Hackney made an application to open Charlton as a British League speedway club, and plans were proposed to construct a track around the perimeter of the football pitch. The application was enthusiastically supported initially, but was eventually ruled out on the grounds of noise nuisance.

For many years, The Valley was one of the largest Football League grounds in Britain. However, Charlton's long absence from the top level of English football prevented much-needed renovation, because funds dried up and attendances fell. Charlton were relegated from the First Division in 1957 and did not return until 1986. In 1972, the club was relegated to the Third Division for the first time in the post-war era.

In the early 1980s, the club's debts led to it almost going out of business. A consortium of supporters successfully acquired the club in 1984, but The Valley remained in the possession of the ownership of the former owner, and the club was unable to finance the improvements needed to meet new safety requirements. Shortly after the start of the 1985–86 season, Charlton left The Valley, entering into an agreement with Crystal Palace to share the latter's magnificent Selhurst Park facilities, the first official groundsharing arrangement in the Football League in 36 years.